All posts tagged Exchanges

After a long wait, the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange has finally gotten the go-ahead to start business.

It’ll be a little while before the would-be commodities trading hub can claim any serious progress in fulfilling its mission statement, “Building Asia’s Exchange.” The one and only product HKMEx is able to offer investors, now that it has received authorization from the Securities and Futures Commission to operate as an automated trading services provider, is a one-kilo, or 32-troy-ounce gold futures contract denominated in U.S.-dollars with physical delivery in Hong Kong, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Traders won’t be happy to see this chart Citi produced after the announcement of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.’s full-year results on Wednesday: It shows that there’s little correlation between trading hours and turnover, after the jump.

The world’s biggest exchange merger is no threat to Hong Kong, according to Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Josef Ackermann, who hinted that the city’s financial sector will benefit from regulatory arbitrage.

“You have all the assets on your side,” Mr. Ackermann said to a roomful of bankers and businesspeople hearing him speak in Hong Kong on Thursday.

The head of Australia’s stock exchange is strengthening his sales pitch for a merger with Singapore’s exchange, but the deal is far from done and dusted.

At stock exchange operator ASX Ltd.’s results presentation Thursday, Chief Executive Robert Elston said: “The ASX board maintains a strong belief in the need to participate in global exchange consolidation and in the business logic of the combination with Singapore…[the combined entity would create a] “far more Australasian or Westernized exchange” in the Asian time zone, reports Dow Jones Newswires.

Mr. Elstone added that that as investor demand for global securities and derivatives trading platforms soars, domestic governments have to “divorce ownership from sovereignty,” and “accept that governments have all the power that they need through their regulatory frameworks.”

About Exchange

Exchange is The Wall Street Journal’s place for inside news, insight and ideas on Hong Kong’s business and finance community. Write to us at hongkong@wsj.com or follow Exchange on Twitter and Facebook.